Search - Frank Caliendo :: All Over the Place

Two excellent skill sets

James R. Sanford | Ravinia, IL | 06/11/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Frank Caliendo is an extraordinary impressionist. His ability to recreate the voices and vocal mannerisms of a wide range of celebrities is remarkable, especially given the ease with which he switches from one to the next. But that skill is not necessarily entertaining. What is so entertaining about Frank Caliendo is his skill as a comedian. He uses the vocal impressions to deliver inspired comic turns that indeed, bounce "all over the place." For example, John Madden says, "I went off on a tangent, there" to which Bush enthusiastically declares, "I love tangerines! They're my favorite fruit!" And Clinton interjects, "I-like-melons." The whole sequence takes, perhaps, 7 seconds, and is typical of the sheer volume of jokes and laughter in this performance. Frank's comedy has the rhythm of an automatic weapon. But his observations are never mean-spirited or unkind, even while he exploits and exaggerates the foibles of his characters. Like Jeff Dunham, Frank has two great skill sets. Dunham is a wonderful ventriloquist and Frank is an amazing impressionist, but both are terrific comedians. Both are eminently likable as themselves. And both get away with outrageous observations by channeling those words through the voices and characters of others. My enjoyment of their humor is tinged with awe at their performance skills.



Seeing an impressionist is often an important aspect of appreciating the effect or the joke. And Frank's recreation of facial expressions is definitely worth seeing. But the vocal characterizations are so strong, even just listening to this performance is entertaining. I bought both the DVD and CD. And once you have seen the DVD, the CD is fully actualized in your imagination. I often listen to it on my iPod while traveling on an airplane.



Like Dunham's "Spark of Insanity" or Steven Wright's "I Have a Pony," Caliendo's "All Over the Place" creates a very challenging standard for Frank to follow-up. I hope he has the chops, but he has set his own bar very high. He should spend a couple of months in a conference room with a group of great comedy writers and once again, distill his new material until it engenders the waves of laughter of this performance."